Birdhouse Bookshop
by kaiserklee
Summary: Apparently the neighborhood is setting up a library system among itself: take a book, read it, return it, share your own. (And when Kaneki takes a book, he ends up writing notes back and forth to Eto. AU, no ghouls.)


There's a flyer caught in his mailbox.

Kaneki carefully unravels the rolled-up piece of paper and scans through the notice. It's obviously amateurish work: black-and-white not because of style but because color ink is more expensive; graphics most likely pulled from Clip Art; and the font can only be described as gaudy, but Kaneki can imagine a suburban mother trying her best and the sincere effort makes him smile. Anyway, the content of it interests him. Apparently the neighborhood is setting up a library system among itself, and the opening is soon.

Honestly, he's tempted to go. Books _are_ one of his biggest interests, and maybe he could make a likeminded friend or two and relieve Hide from hearing him rave about Takatsuki Sen. Not to mention he's moved in for a while and still doesn't know anyone in the neighborhood; Kaneki wasn't anti-social, but knocking on someone's door and introducing himself is something Hide would do, not him. Then again, crowds aren't really him either…and he doubts there'll be many people his age. Being smothered by older ladies and getting his cheeks pinched isn't exactly his idea of a fun time.

 _Ahh, well, maybe next time._

* * *

It's been a few weeks since, and Kaneki is more than a little amused by the newest addition to his quiet neighborhood.

When he'd seen the flyer for an opening, he'd thought this new library thing was an actual building some ways down the neighborhood, and maybe he just hadn't noticed the construction; but really, it was only a small, wooden birdhouse-looking thing on the other side of the street. It was cute, though, made of bright wood and well-polished, with a glass door that let you see all the books inside. Honor system, Kaneki guesses. Take a book, read it, return it, share some of your own. It does make the neighborhood seem more…neighborly.

But he's never taken anything from it, because he feels a little guilty he hadn't shown up to the opening. It's honestly a stupid thought. Who got so worked up about sharing books?

Kaneki strolls over to the Birdhouse Bookshop (very proudly labeled, this was, on a sign attached to the grand structure) and peers inside the glass door…window. It's a little cringe-worthy to see cookbooks and self-help books teaching basic computer skills, but there _are_ quite a few novels in there that piques his interest. One by Takatsuki Sen, of course, but he's read that one already. Out of all the Japanese books he can't help but notice the one English title, looking a little forlorn in its corner of the box.

From the corner of his eye, Kaneki notices someone walking their dog and giving him an odd look, and he realizes that he's bent over and glancing diagonally through the box to see that one book clearly.

Clearing his throat, Kaneki straightens, opens the door of the birdhouse, and takes the book with him.

 _Lady Audley's Secret_ , by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

* * *

It's an odd choice, and Kaneki can imagine why not many people in this neighborhood would care to peruse an English novel; but he has to take classes on the language anyway, and why not practice?

 _When beautiful young Lucy Graham accepts the hand of Sir Michael Audley, her fortune and her future look secure. But Lady Audley's past is shrouded in mystery, and to Sir Michael's nephew Robert, she is not all that she seems…_

It's actually rather good.

He does have homework and social obligations (mainly one, to Hide, because Touka is much less demanding), so he can't finish reading the entire book in one sitting like he wants, but Kaneki blitzes through the whole thing within three days before sitting down for another, closer reading. Braddon could be commentating on a whole host of things, with the revelation of Lady Audley's madness and her murder of her first husband to secure her fortune with her second; Kaneki is helped in his analysis, though, by the previous owner of the novel. It had bugged him at first to see foreign handwriting along the margins of the pages, along with highlighting of certain passages, but being able to glimpse the owner's thoughts quickly becomes one of the best parts of reading.

Kaneki finds himself often nodding in agreement, and even more often being astounded by the ingenious conclusions that he had failed to reach.

Finally, at the end of the week, Kaneki closes the book with a content sigh.

It's been a journey, and somehow, it feels like the previous owner has shared so much with him. Kaneki wonders who's on the other side of those brilliant analyses, the insightful remarks; but he'd better return the book.

With a thank you note, just to be polite.

 _Dear Owner,_

 _Thank you for sharing this novel with me! I really enjoyed it. I agree that Lady Audley wasn't really mad, since everything that she did, while morally wrong to the rest of society, was entirely rational from her point of view. One thing you didn't touch on in your notes was the concept of time as power, as only Lady Audley seemed cognizant of the passage of time, and her use of a personal clock in contrast to the inaccurate clock-tower…_

* * *

Kaneki realizes _after_ slipping the book back into the birdhouse that someone else could take the book before the owner wanted it back, but a few days later, with a thrill of excitement leaping in his stomach, he sees yet another English novel crammed inside.

 _Jane Eyre_ , by Charlotte Bronte.

Kaneki grabs the book, races home, and flips it open, only for a slip of paper to fall out.

 _Dear Kaneki-kun,_

 _Sorry about writing an honorific in English! It seems a tad ~weird~ but I thought I sounded even more weird without it! Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Lady Audley. Funny how so many people will deem things outside of their immediate understanding as 'madness', hmm?_

 _Also, that's a good thought about time, and I think you're right. The Industrial Revolution was happening just around then, so timetables for railways were just being established—Braddon might have been trying to comment on the chaos of the time being settled by standardization?_

 _I hope you enjoy this next novel—I just realized I'm assuming that Kaneki-kun will be the one to take this book! I sure hope you aren't someone else. Well, if not, put this back in the birdhouse right now! Stop reading! And why did you read all the way to the end of a letter not addressed to you?! Ahem._

 _Bye, Kaneki-kun!_

 _—Eto_


End file.
